SQL SERVER – SQLWays – Database and Application Migration Tool

Database and what is more application migration has always been time and money consuming task. In this article I’m going to tell you about one of the ways to make this task easier in all senses. I suppose that you might have already heard about SQLWays database migration tool, developed by Ispirer Systems Ltd. Today I’d like to get a closer look at its features and capabilities that can be of use in working on your migration project. Let’s start.

General Information

SQLWays dates back to the year 1999. During the time of its existence the tool has managed to accumulate a great number of technological solutions based on more than 40,000 test cases. Among the clients of Ispirer Systems Ltd., I could find Microsoft, HP, JP Morgan, Shell, ChevronTexaco, Fujitsu, Citigroup, EDS, Accenture, Carrefour, Thomson, CAP Gemini and a lot of other well-known companies. Let’s find out what made these companies choose SQLWays.

Tool Features

The first question that may come to your mind is: Whether this tool supports the migration direction that I have? Sometimes it’s really difficult to find a tool that can migrate your old database or supports migration into some rare target database. SQLWays will definitely satisfy your requirements. The number of source and target databases supported by SQLWays is impressing and as far as I can see it, they are constantly adding something new. Have a look the lists of Source and Target databases.

What exactly can SQLWays migrate?

• The tool automates migration of tables and data as well as SQL code (stored procedures, functions, triggers, views, packages, etc.).
• It can also migrate embedded SQL statements and database API.
• SQLWays is used for application migration.

Application and database migration go side by side and what is really convenient is that SQLWays is capable of migrating application code as well. You don’t have to look for one more tool to complete this task, everything can be performed by one tool. More details about application migration you’ll receive by visiting the page devoted to Application Conversion with SQLWays.

GUI and Command Line Tool Interfaces

SQLWays package includes three GUI tools:

SQLWays Wizard – for SQL code and data conversion with ODBC connection to the target database.

SQLWays Studio – for database or application singular script conversion.

SQLWays Commander – for database and application multiple scripts conversion.

The basis of all these GUI tools is SQLWays.exe command line tool that can be run in batch mode and can perform all the above mentioned tasks. Command line interface allows to integrate migration steps with other concurrent processes via standard Windows scripting.

SQL Code Migration

The level of automated object migration that SQLWays may reach is 100%. I tried to find out how the tool manages to reach such a high object conversion rate. It turned out that SQLWays belongs to a new generation of highly customizable tools which allows to tailor the tool in accordance with the requirements of each particular migration project. There are many tools that can achieve a high data conversion rate, but I’ve never met a tool that can guarantee you 100% conversion rate of business logic (stored procedures, functions, triggers, views, packages, etc.). It has always been a very difficult part of each database migration project, but as it turned out SQLWays tool can cope with this task.

Data Migration

SQLWays basic data transfer speed is about 10 GB per hour. This speed is claimed for some standard hardware characteristics. The tool uses your hardware capabilities to the full which means the more powerful hardware you have the higher is the speed of the migration process. So the speed of data transfer may reach even up to 50 GB per hour. One more convenient tool’s feature is that you can run up to 10 SQLWays instances simultaneously, so with the average data transferring speed of 10 GB per hour you will be able to transfer data at the rate of up to 100 GB per hour. It’s not so high but the tool is under constant development and its migration speed grows. As far as I know, at the moment they are developing a separate on the fly data migration tool in addition to their main SQLWays tool, the speed of which is many times higher.

Application Code Conversion

Speaking in a few words about application conversion with SQLWays, I should admit that it’s the very field where customized approach can fully demonstrate its advantages. Application part tends to be the most difficult task in any migration project because of application code peculiarities in each separate case. SQLWays is designed to be easily transformed to satisfy the requirements of any application migration project.

Tool Limits

SQLWays has no technical limits in terms of the number of objects, lines of code, tables or data size that can be migrated (these limits are set only by the license as it’s project-based). The tool runs on Windows, but it can work with source objects and data from Unix/Linux hosts.

Licensing

SQLWays licenses are project-based and are sold for a set project size and time frames.

Process of SQLWays Customization

As you already know, one of the tool peculiarities is fast customization. SQLWays technology is based on a great number of test cases, and is improving and developing with each project. Such approach results in constant accumulation of the tool’s capabilities. Ispirer team will analyze your source code and, if needed, necessary customizations will be made within a very short time. They claim that a new SQLWays version with required customization can be delivered to a client within 1-3 days. What else is good about customization is that during the project, you can modify requirements based on the intermediate results (optimize database access, change UI features etc.), and easily re-run the conversion. Possibility of tool customization is a key differentiator between SQLWays and most other tools, which turns out to be a reasonable approach while dealing with hundreds of thousands of lines of code.

Technical Support

SQLWays licenses include technical support from Ispirer. In the context of support all the needed tool customizations are made. Such an approach means constant dialogue during the whole period of license validity between Ispirer support team and client’s team. In other words such an approach can be described like “you tell them what tool functionality you want to have and they give it to you ”.

SQLWays Demo Version

Ispirer Systems offers a wide range of SQLWays demo versions which you can download and test for free. SQLWays demo versions are exact copies of the full version but with limits in the scope which can be migrated. Anyway it’s a good idea to have a look at the tool first. As far as I know there is possibility to request a free live presentation from their support team and ask your questions directly.

To get a better idea about how SQLWays tool looks like and how it works as an example I’ve chosen a demo presentation video about migration from Oracle to Microsoft SQL Server.

Developer

And a few words about the developer. The tool has been developed by Ispirer Systems Ltd. Besides the tool licenses Ispirer offers migration services and is represented in the USA, the UK and Japan with its headquarters in Belarus.

Conclusion

If you are looking for the way to speed up your migration project, this tool is worth your attention.

Reference: Pinal Dave (https://blog.sqlauthority.com)